Internal-combustion engine.



INTERNAL COMBUSTIQN ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED .IAN- Y9I4.

Patented Feb.15,1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

` 1. 600D. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 7. 1914.

v Patented Feb. 15,1916.

.4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

l. GOOD.

[NTE-RNAi. COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION man 1111.1, 1914.

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JOHN GOOD, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.`

Specification Of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

Application filed January 7, 1914. Serial No. 810,721.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN GOOD. a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the county'of Kings and' State of New York, have invented the following described new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines.

- This invention is an improvement in the w valve arrangement of internal combustion engines and particularly multi-cylinder engines in which rotary disks or labyrinth valves are employed for .controlling the intake and exhaust, all ,as hereinafter expla-ined and more particularly pointed out 'in the accompanying claims.

In the vdrawings forming part hereof, Figure 1 is a top plan view of an engine em'- bodying the invention, withparts broken out to illustrate interior construction. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same structure partly in section. Fig. 3 is an end elevation with parts in section. Fig. 4: is a cross section through one of the cylinder heads on larger scale. Fig. 5 is a detail of one of the shaft-borne disks; and Fig. G a similar detail of one of the stationary or port disks.

The multi-cylinder engine shown com'- y prises a water-jacketed body structure 1,

containing four or any desired numberY of cylinders cast en bloc or Otherwise,v and attached to any suitable base casting, as shown in Fig. 3, with vwhich it may form a crank case. The head structure for the several cylinders may be formed Of one Or several castings and may be integral with the body casting if desired, according to the particular design. It is shown herein as a single casting, in which are contained the inlet and exhaustpassages for each cylinder as well as the valves therefor, the shafts for such valves and other parts later described. The inlet and exhaust passages are f arranged on opposite sides of the head structure and connected with the intake and exhaust manifolds which run alongside of the upper portions of the cylinders proper, parallel with the row of cylinders. Either manifold may serve as inlet or exhaust according to preference. In the drawings the manifold marked 2, may be. assumed to be theintakc and the passage 3 the inlet passage, connecting the same with the cylinders, 5 being the corresponding exhaust passage and 6 the exhaust maniffld connecting therewith. Each cylinder has a similar arrangement of intake and exhaust passages and connections with-the manifolds.v The inlet and exhaust valves of each cylinder may be of identical formation and each is constituted in the present case by a series of iixed disks 7 having port openings 7 (Fig 6), and a complementary series of interla'pping rotary disks 8, which have ported openings 8l (Fig. 5). The fixed disks 7 are secured in the head structure withtheir openings 7 inalinement with eachother and also in alinement with the inlet or exhaust passage 5 or 4, and they are spaced from each other bya series of interposed rings 9, and kept in alinement means of a key 10. The rotary disks 8 are similarly keyed to the valve shaft 4, with their openings 8a in alinement, being spaced from each other by the interposed Washers 11. AThe thickness of the washers 11 and spacer rings9, is so proprtioned with respect tothe thickness of the disks asto prevent substantial contact between the fixed disks and the rotary ones, thus form-y ing a crevice of labyrinthic-` character through the set of intel-lapping disks, substantially as indicated in Fig. 4. When the port openings in the shaft-borne disks are in al-inement with the openings in the fixed or port disks, the valve presents a free passage through it, for the escape or intake of gases, but when rotated to some other posi- -tion in which the openings are out of alinement, the passageway through the valve is closed, notwithstanding that'the fixed and movable disks arev not ini Contact. structures of this kind are described in a co-pending application filed June 28th, 1913, and are not necessary to be described herein further than to say that the resistance arising from-the surface friction 1n the narrow crevice against the sides and around the edges of the interlapping disks, is sufficient to confine the-'combustion pressure, the Aobstruction to fiOw being increased by the rotary motion of thevalve disks. Such motion serves to drag the film of gaseous fiuid adhering to the disks so as to compel it to travel in a direction other than'that in which the leakage would naturally tend to flow if the disks were stationary, thereby compelling the fluid to travel a long and tortuous path before it can escape, which results-in an effectual closure of the valve passage for all practical purposes. l

Both the inlet and exhaust valve of each cylinder are mounted on the same transverse valve shaft by which the one is connected to Valve to endwise movement is prevented. But in order that the shaft-borne disks shall be kept'permanentlyin an approximately centralized position with respect to the ixed disks, and out of substantial contact therewith, they are firmly clamped on the shaft 4 with their spacing washers 11 between them, by means of the nuts 12, and the shaft bearings 13 are disposed outside of the nuts at each end of the shaft, with provisions for controlling the endwise position .of the latter independently of the valve members themselves. Such provisions include a collar 15 clamped by a nut 17 on the reduced end of the shaft, against a s et of thin plates or washers 16, and held against the end of the adjacent shaft bearing 13, or some equivalent fixed support. The number and thickness of .the plates 16 are"v selected so that when the collar as thus clamped on the end of the shaft is contiguous to the bearing, the disks 8 will then be approximately centralized in the spaces between the fixed disks 7 of both valves. As the rubbing faces of the collar 15 and the bearing 13 become worn the number or thickness of the plates 16 can be varied accordingly to preserve the i centralized position, or other means of endwise adjustment may be provided. The

y collar for example could be threaded to the ring 18, and a small spring 19 interposed between the same and a split andy threaded housing 20. The thrust-ring 18 is splined to the housing, and when the latter is properly adjusted the spring presses the ring against the collar 15 and the latter' against the end of the bearing. It is a peculiarity of valves of the kind referred to that they are subject to no appreciable increase in load or resistance to movement even when serving very high cylinder` pressures, and

the slight retarding action produced by the y spring and thrust-ring upon the collar 15, is therefore beneficial as it serves as a brake to keep the driving gears free from backlash and hence silent. vAtfthe opposite endand 8,' with their respective rings and wash-. ers in proper sequence, are then placed in. position. `There 1s one shaft for each cyl` inder extending transverse to the cylinderl axis and also to the axis of the engine as a whole. The shaft-borne disks are then clamped in place by their nuts 12 and the fixed'disks by means of the cover plates 21 `and 22, which are bolted to the main casting skew gear 14 at its end, the latter gears being preferably alli on the same side of the row of cylinders and'all driven by a common shaft 24, through complementary skew gears 23 thereon. The common drive shaft is carried by the head structure of the engine, in the present case, being journaled in the horizontal bearings 24a (Fig. 2) so that it extends adjacent to the head` structure and parallel with the row of cylinders. At one end this shaft is fast to a skew gear 25 meshing with a complementary skew gear 26 on an oblique shaft 27, and the latter shaft is driven from the engine crank shaftl 2S by the skew gears 29.' (See Figs. 2 and 3,). It will be understood that the various sets of valve disks are so placedon their respective 'transverse valve shafts 4 as to open and close the inlet and exhaust ports of the several cylinders in a proper sequence and according vto the arrangement of the cranks (not shown) on the: engine crank shaft.

The cover plates 22 of the head structure, besides serving as the clamping means for thefixed disks 7 and the bearings for the ends of the valve shafts, are also utilized to form portions of the housings for the gears' 14 and 23,' the balance of such housings being provided by separatecasings 30, as shown more clearly vin Fig. 4. The cover plates 22 also proyide the bearings 24a, above referred to, and a portion of any two of such cover plates and the casings 307may ber combined to form a 'pump casing, as indicated at 31 in the drawings. The terminal cover plate also provides a support, such as indicated at 32, for a` magneto generator, commutator or other engine appurtenance.' The water connec-tions for the head structure are not indicated. With these casings on one side andthe housings 20 on the other, the whole of the valve gearing is completely inclosed.

Between the side portions containing the labyrinth valves, the head structure is `longitudinally depressed from end to end, the bottom of the depressed portion boing at different levels. The parts o f the lowest level, marked 35, are so arranged that oneI of them is common to two adjacent cylinders and two spark plug holes are drilled therein to receive the-'spark plug (or-fuel injector) for each of such cylinders. The depressed portions 36 serve to inclose the central portion of the rotary valve shafts 3 forming the Water jacket -which surrounds them as shown in Fig. 2.

I claim: l. A 4multi-cylinder combustion engine having rotary multiple disk intake and exrotating on axes which are haust valves transverse to their respective cylinder axes and also transverse to the roW of c linders also to the roW=of cylinders, a pair of rotary multiple disk valve-members secured to each shaft, the members of each pair being exposed to the combustion pressure ofits cylinder in opposite directions, and a common drive-shaft for all the said valveshafts.

3. In a'combustion engine, a pluralityv of cylinders, a valve-shaft for each cylinder journaled transversely thereof and also transversely of the row of cylinders, oppositely disposed intake and .exhaust valves mechanically connected to each other by the valve-shaft and respectively .exposed in op` posite directions to the combustion pressure, a gear on each of the valve-shafts, a common drive-shaft engaging said gears and means independent ofthe va ve members for adjusting said' valve shafts in an endwise direction.

4. In a combustion engine, ders each having a valve-shaft carrying a series of disks and rotating on axes land also respectively, a common a row of cylini to the row of cylinders transverse to their cylinder axes, a series of port disks interlapping with the shaft disks and forming a valve therewith, a longitudinal drive-shaft geared to cach of the valve-shafts for operating the respective disks thereof, and a gear means for operating the drive-shaft from the engine crankshaft.

5. In a combustion engine, a row of cylinders, a valve-shaft for meh cylinder having a series of disks thereon, and journaled at the head of each cylinder transverse to the c linder and to the 'row of cylinders, in com ination with a completo rotate' on axes mentary series of disks for each series of shaft-borne disks, interlapping but not contacting therewith, a, longitudinal drive-shaft on one side of the cylinder geared to each valve-shaft thereof and driven by the engine crank-shaft, and means independent of the drive shaft for adjusting the valve shafts in an endwise direction. p

6. In a 'multi-cylinder engine, a series. of engine cylinders having inlet and exhaust ports yon opposite sides controlled by rotary multiple disk valves," a transversely journaled valve shaft for each cylinder by which the valves thereof are actuated, and a head structure for the cylinders in which said valves and shafts are contained, the said head structure having depressions between the shafts and spark plug holes-formed in said depressions.,

In testimony `whereof, I have `signed this specification in the presence of two Witnesses. t

. JOHN GOOD lVitnesses:

' H. E. KiMnALL,

G. A. TAYLOR. 

